Scale Steering:
Scale steering is a navigation skills competition whereby a scale electric powered boat is steered around a buoyed course of coloured buoys in a set pattern and direction. There is no time limit to completing the course however one point is deducted for every buoy that is touched, missed or other infraction. At the end of the competition, the skipper with the most points will win the day. There is no size restriction to the boat used, but it generally needs to be fairly maneuverable and not too wide on the beam as the buoys are only 1m apart in some areas of the course.
International One Metre (IOM):
The IOM is the most popular radio control racing yacht in the world and is raced in over 30 countries. The class was created in 1988 and has continued to grow steadily since its inception. There are over 2200 boats registered in Australia with State and National Championships taking place each year.
Although carbon fibre is allowed in the construction of the fin (keel) and rudder, construction of the hull must be either of wood or fibreglass. Spars can be of alloy or wood and the sails are of ‘one design’ sizes. The number of rigs is limited to three sizes (A, B and C rigs) with each being used according to the wind conditions at the time; A-rig is the largest. The class is popular for amateur builders and many designers have various plans for competitive boats. Builders who can supply hulls and rigs for home completion or completed boats ready to sail are located in several countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Italy and Romania,
The IOM Class is managed by its own International Class Association; their website is here. The Western Australia Radio Sailing website provides further information about the IOM and radio control yacht sailing in general.
General boat details are:- Length: 1m; Sailing Weight (min): 4kg; Draft: 0.42m; Sail Area: 0.6sqm (A-rig)
DragonForce 65 (DF65):
Length: 650mm; Sailing Weight: approx 1.2kg; Sail Area: 0.2sqm
DragonFlite 95 (DF95):
Length: 950mm; Beam: 125mm; Overall Height: 1470mm; Total Sail Area: 0.37sqm; Sailing Weight: approx 2000g
Hull material: molded plastic with painted finish
Fast Electric:
The fast electric competition involves racing a mono hull electric boat as fast as possible around an oval course while completing as many laps as possible within the four minute time allocation. Only one competitor at a time will race as even with just two boats on the course, it was found that frequent collisions would still occur. With a few spare batteries, several races can be undertaken by skippers with the total laps being used to determine the results for the day.
